Monthly Archives: October 2013

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The very much publicized last minute heroics of Matthew Stafford has been shown a number of times and was even NFL Replay’s game of the night last night. But what exactly happened on that last drive that left Kris Durham wide open and Calvin Johnson what may have looked like an easy catch to take him down to the one yard line?

Rather than some short writeups across the league this week, I decided to take a more in-depth look at a situation that, as a fan of good football, bugs me. The St. Louis Rams have, under head coach Jeff Fisher and GM Les Snead, taken a team that was possibly the absolute worst in the league from 2007-2011– totaling 15 wins over those five seasons, including a seven-win season in 2010– and turned them into a team that is, at least, competitive in many games, if not quite ready to take a leap beyond the six- and seven-win dregs.

These improvements might lead one to think that the current nucleus of the team is primed to take a big leap forward soon. I think this is a mirage, and the team’s long-term prospects will be severely hampered if they stick with that core. Read on as I describe the problems.

1/6 last week following 4/11 in week 4. Let’s see how poorly I can do this week, where I will introduce teaser picks. I think there is a lot of value in adding a few points to either side of a bet even if you have to hit on more picks at worse odds. I’m also not feeling the standard lines this week (due to poor performance and plain toughness) so apologies for fewer straight up line picks.

Rob at advanced-analysis basketball blog Points Per Possession and I recorded a podcast previewing the Houston Rockets’ upcoming season. Being a longtime Rockets fan, as well as a particular fan of Daryl Morey’s work as GM, I had a lot to say about the team’s prospects in 2013-14, especially now that all the pieces seem to be in place for Morey’s grand plan to build a title contender.

We recorded this in August, so it’s possible not all of the information on it is totally up-to-date. On the other hand, it’s possible I will look even more prescient about the Rockets’ prospects. There’s only one way to find out: Listen here!

I went into the tape for Jordan Cameron not looking for anything in particular. He is a player who has exploded onto the scene after having a huge preseason and carrying that momentum into the season. Cameron’s bulk production is way, way up from last year. He caught 20 passes for 226 yards and 1 TD then. This year, he has already caught 45 balls for 515 yards and 6 TDs.

With the Saints on a bye, I chose to focus my viewing attention on the Texans this week, for many reasons. Primarily, of course, I was interested to see game one of The Case Keenum Experiment and how that change affected the team. A brief writeup on the Texans’ last 24 hours, after the jump…